Contrived

Like "Closely Watched Train" before it, this film from Jiri Menzel is ambitious, yet disappointing.

The recipe was 3 parts Fellini and seven parts Thomas Mann. But the plot is contrived, the metaphors usually tired cliches, and the acting, for the most part, is silly.

The actors can actually be great, as indicated by Rudolf Hrusinsky in the far superior "The Cremator". But the poorly articulated sentiments of an aged yearning for evasive youth and beauty will not sound right, even when assisted by the eloquence of a Hrusinsky.

Jiri Menzel also played the Magician, which is rather off-putting. One wishes to strangle the smug, stealthy, feline little bastard; I somehow don't think this is the characterization that the screenwriter aimed at. Menzel is far more suitable as Dvorak, the apprentice in "The Cremator". Menzel's passive-aggressive cheap lowliness plays to better effect, there.